1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a feed unit for feeding fuel from a fuel container of a motor vehicle to an internal combustion engine, having an electric motor, having a housing component of the electric motor, having brushes which are covered by the housing component, having electrical connecting lines which lead to the brushes, and having at least one inductor which is arranged in the connecting lines.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Such feed units are known from practice with a physical unit composed of an electric motor which is operated by direct current, and plug-type contacts arranged on the outer side of the housing component, the electrical connecting lines and the inductor. In this context, the housing component usually has guides for the brushes and is connected to further housing components of the electric motor during the mounting operation. After the mounting operation, the electric motor can be connected to a voltage source by means of the plug-type contacts. In the known feed unit, the plug-type contacts are lead through the housing component. The inductors are welded tight to the inner side of the plug-type contacts. As a rule, the plug-type contacts are also connected to one another by means of a capacitor.
A disadvantage with the known feed unit is that the installation space on the inner side of the housing component is highly restricted. The diameter of the housing component is predefined by the diameter of the rest of the housing, while the overall height of the housing component is to be kept as small as possible so that the electric motor can be used in usually low fuel containers. For this reason, in the known feed unit, only very small inductors with low inductance can be used. In addition, owing to the limited space in the housing, the inductors have a small line cross section, which leads to a voltage drop across the inductors.